…on Tumblr.
(Substituting Christianity in place of Otherkin for hyperbolic effect.)
Psychological Otherkin: I’m a Christian.
Spiritual Otherkin: Really? Me too. Do you have a favorite Bible verse?
P-Kin: I haven’t read the Bible.
S-Kin: Um…ok. Well, when were you baptized?
P-Kin: I…
See, it’s funny because they think being a therianthrope or otherkin is a religion that you choose to enter into, practice, and then eventually decide whether or not to leave at some point. Still, mildly entertaining. I enjoyed the plot twist at the end.
I can pretty much guarantee you that is not what Sylvere thinks, despite the choice of analogy. Saying that something is a spiritually based belief is not at all the same as saying it’s a religion.
I can’t think of any otherkin off the top of my head who treat what they are as a religion in itself, though it may affect our religious views or practices. (There’s Tië Eldaliéva, but IIRC they do not claim to be Elves as such, just to have crafted a path based on what we see of Elvish spirituality in LotR and the Silmarillion.)
This is true for the otherkin community, but not for therians. Trans* therians like Quil, Liesk and myself have regularly used terminology that paralleled the transgender realm of our experiences to describe animal identity, since at least the mid 2000’s. One example is Quil describing therianthropy in terms of “A therianthrope/were/transspecies/animal person is human plus animal.”, putting all these terms as valid alternatives to “therian”. This was done in his 2004 writing “Two Viewpoints” which is not available on his website anymore (I have a copy of on my hard drive from a previous incarnation of his site.)
[snip]
Fair enough. Another example, then, of how the therian community and the otherkin community have various differences in culture and are not interchangeable things.
(Source: thegirlbitesback)
I just. Okay. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel that the term “otherkin” does not fit with LGBTQ, even though it’s often lumped in with T*. To me, they’re completely different types of identities. Otherkin seems /much/ more spiritual to me, whereas T* is gender identity and a state of mental and self being (sex, of course, being your birth bits).
I just.
No hate, otherkin community. I’m just processing. There’s so much conflicting information..
Dunno what you mean by “often lumped in with T*”. While some ‘kin find that there is a relationship or intertwining between their “other” nature and their gender and/or sexual identity, generally speaking “otherkin” is not part of the LGBTQ spectrum, because it is not a gender/sexuality type of identity in the first place.
While “trans-species” is valid etymologically, since the “trans” particle just means “across, beyond, through; on the other side of; changing thoroughly”, historically it’s never been a term we’ve used for ourselves. If it’s used today, IME it’s generally been in the context of abstract analogy rather than a solid term of identity in and of itself. There are too many problems using it in the latter way. (I personally think it sounds kinda funny anyway and can’t imagine calling myself “trans-species”. I’m fae, or I’m otherkin.)
Hehe, well, she has interest in stuff like that, but she hasn’t actually looked at the book yet. The person who actually expressed interest in it was asked to look for this sort of thing and so brought it up. It could still get turned down, of course, but I don’t think it would be out of place. Not if it was placed in the spirituality section (hey, even I know we’re not ready for the psychology section!).
I still have to read through it and make sure it would be a good source of information, of course. I’m not going to tell them to stock it if it’s not going to be of any use to anybody. So far, though, it looks pretty good!
Well, lessee… I dunno if your library is an OCLC member, but the record in WorldCat has two possible Dewey call numbers (in 133.X) that seem to both amount to Philosophy & psychology»Parapsychology & occultism»Specific topics in parapsychology & occultism. (No LC call number in record so I can’t offer comparative advice; I don’t know how to readily translate between Dewey and LC, which is what I’m more familiar with.) Library of Congress subject headings in the record are Reincarnation, Metamorphosis, and Magic. Efyawannaknow.
I even see psychological therians today claiming to experience “human sickness” if they spend too much time doing human behaviors without mentally shifting into their theriotype. I stand by my assessment.
Hmm, well… I think I can sympathize with them, even if I wouldn’t describe the situation as “if I spend too long doing Human Things and don’t get some Me Fae Time then I get Human Sickness”. I really do find contact with others of my kind to be healthful and healing - it’s one of the reasons I used to be so regular going to gathers even though they were all the way across the country. I needed (need!) “Otherkin time”. There was something about being in that environment that helped sustain me. I wonder/theorize if lack of this has contributed, along with more conventional reasons for depression, to my general shitty mood, suicidality, etc. the past Xty years. So I do wonder if having more opportunity to “shift” and “let it all fae out”, as it were, would be a good thing.
eta: On reflection, I think I may be talking about something a bit deeper than just engaging in a few “fae behaviors”, whatever exactly that might mean (I don’t have anything analogous to howling, for example, off the top of my head). I do sometimes phrase it as needing exposure to glamour (in the Changeling: the Dreaming sense), so doing things like engaging with a magical movie (inasmuch as I can “engage” with anything anymore) can help, even though really it’s quite shallow. But to speak of staving off “human sickness” by contact with Otherkin at gathers is something else - it’s not just getting to wear wings for a while, though that is enjoyable; it’s more experiential and connective, to people and land, and something more like having an opportunity to taste and recharge with some Deep Majik that isn’t readily available in day to day life. (The old Faery Caern was always one of the hearts of Thresholds for me; I really need a space like that here.)
Hi! I have read a little bit about therians/otherkins and it’s seems to me that there are many people identifying as one. I would like to know, how people recognize that they’re one? Are there any good resources, where I could get more information about this?
—Anonymous
This isn’t precisely a pagan question, but it just so happens that a pagan (Lupa, of Therioshamanism) wrote a really good book on the phenomenon of otherkin. It’s called A Field Guide to Otherkin, and I recommend it highly. You figure out if you are any kind of otherkin the way you find out any other identity question about yourself: with thought and reflection and time.
- Lokisgift
Unfortunately, I believe the Field Guide has now gone out of print, so if you want a copy, get one soon while stock still exists.
There have always been elves who didn’t have past life memories. There was a list for them, as I recall, called something like “real here now”?
Are you thinking of “Here and Now”, perhaps? If so, it wasn’t for lack of past life memories as such (that was more Lostkin, that Jarin’s already mentioned), but for those who wished to focus more on, well, the Here and Now of being otherkin, how it affected their current existence, energies, what they did day to day that was relevant, etc.
HereAndNowOKN.LJ still exists, though I wouldn’t call it active. Off the top of my head I’m not sure how to join the Here-and-Now mailing list if it still exists.Don’t know about the mailing list, but it appears the LJ community had a total of 9 posts, with 85 comments, in the course of five years. Call me crazy but that doesn’t seem like there was a whole lot of stuff to discuss once the past-life stuff was set aside.
(4:15 PM: edited somewhat)
I don’t think it was lack of material per se so much as that it seems, looking at the membership list, that many of the people there are also “old guard” people who fell out of the (online) community altogether, and/or in some cases I think stopped posting on LJ.
As for the mailing list, I had a “duh” moment, of course it doesn’t exist anymore; IIRC the LJ comm was intended to replace or resurrect it after it was disbanded. I was surprised to see how recently founded the community was, though; I was expecting something like 2003. As it is, 2007, is also sort of after the heyday of LJ activity to begin with, so it doesn’t surprise me that it didn’t really take off. Also it is rather late to the party in terms of volume of communication online between otherkin in general, so IMO it’s only to be expected that it had a brief burst of activity around creation and then died off: that’s been the pattern with almost any new list or forum created for years now. (Creating new places is all well and good when there’s demand, but absent that, it tends to make things split up and fizzle, and such effort would usually be better redirected into contributing to an existing forum.)
Two of the nine posts are modly, three are me posting about MythiCalia, one is a suggestion about altering the community profile, two are kind of throwaway “hi!” posts, and one is topical with significant discussion (46 comments). I think, now that I know the community was created that late, that there must have been a significant gap between the disbanding of the mailing list (which I can’t remember if it was hosted directly on OKN, was a Google group, or maybe both, one after the other) and the creation of the comm, which wouldn’t do much good for its activity level. Also, it was invite-only or FOAF, rather than being publicly open, and the community profile was purposely vague for privacy reasons, so it would be hard for someone who might otherwise have been interested in the topic to know that was the case if they happened to stumble across it.
My recollection of the list was that it was active at the time, but I don’t have any archives and as you can see I’m not even sure when that was anymore. (I guess we’d have to ask Malcolm/Rannirl.)
See also http://www.otherkin.net/articles/hereNow.html (on the topic, not referring to the list). Though really, while it’s “non-reincarnationist” (IOW, “good for you if you have past lives but they’re not necessary to be otherkin and they’re off topic here”), I don’t think I think the mindset associated with HereAndNow can be called “psychological otherkin” in the way you’re using the term, either. So there’s some kind of in between or third type, even aside from those claiming a genetic/bloodline descent.
I found out yesterday that i am otherkin.
My mentor highly suspects Fae.
I need to know what my abilities and challenges are. What does this mean for me? I’m a little scared…
What led to this discovery, and what makes them suspect fae? Do you agree with their suspicion, and why or why not? In what context is this person a “mentor” to you?
Assuming that it’s true, it’s not the case that otherkin necessarily gain “abilities” when or after they awaken. Some do notice new things or a feeling of more magical power as though something had become unblocked inside them, but for others that doesn’t happen, and for yet others it was that way all along and is something that led them to the conclusion of being otherkin in the first place.
As far as fae specifically, if you are, some folks are good with the traditional glamours that alter something’s appearance, such as for deception or to be more attractive. Never managed those myself though. :P
There have always been elves who didn’t have past life memories. There was a list for them, as I recall, called something like “real here now”?
Are you thinking of “Here and Now”, perhaps? If so, it wasn’t for lack of past life memories as such (that was more Lostkin, that Jarin’s already mentioned), but for those who wished to focus more on, well, the Here and Now of being otherkin, how it affected their current existence, energies, what they did day to day that was relevant, etc.
HereAndNowOKN.LJ still exists, though I wouldn’t call it active. Off the top of my head I’m not sure how to join the Here-and-Now mailing list if it still exists.(Source: jarandhel)
I’m wondering if any of the other Faekin on tumblr are sensitive to metal?
I can only wear surgical steal, but silver, gold, iron, pewter, any kind of metal other than surgical give me the worst reaction ever, rashing, burning, itching,
anyone on this boat?
This isn’t unknown among fae-kin, but I don’t personally have a problem with the metals used for jewelry, except some “base metal” combinations (probably involving nickel, as that’s a common cause of skin irritations from metal) when used as a pierced earring post. I sometimes experience discomfort from wrought iron objects (and occasionally cast), but that’s a kind of shooting pain rather than surface skin irritation or rash. I don’t often wear gold as I much prefer silver, but I’ve never had a problem with either, or with pewter (which is largely tin plus some copper, antimony, and/or bismuth).
Are otherkin the new furry?
Only if you mean in the literal sense that one community is a bit younger than the other. Furry fandom as a whole took off a little sooner than the otherkin community; “otherkin” as such was coined in the early 1990s (at which time there was already a small elven community going) while “furry” seems to have become current in the mid-1980s (again naming a thing that had already started to happen). However, both communities’ separate roots are in the 1970s. See The Otherkin Timeline and An Illustrated Chronology of Furry Fandom.
I assume that what you meant, though, was something more like “wtf otherkin, is this some weird new thing furries have thought of?” and the answer to that is no. See above; we weren’t invented this year, or this decade, or even on the internet. Otherkin as such, meaning those of us who are mythical beings (elves, fae, angels, etc.) and not the broader meaning of “anyone other than human”, are really not even similar to furries in the first place. Therians (Earth animals) are more similar at first look, but therians are not necessarily furries nor vice versa. For the majority of furry fandom, it’s just that: a fandom, entertainment, not a spiritual or mental identity. There is overlap between the three communities’ memberships, just as there is between e.g. Pagans, tech geeks, and the Ren-Faire crowd, but none is a subset or descendant of another.
And I have to say, I find it kind of funny that people are willing to spend so much time making fun of otherkin. I mean, I’m the last person who can tell someone else off for wasting time, but it’s a bit weird. I don’t understand the mental process - “these people believe something I don’t agree with and I think it’s stupid, so I’m going to spend hours of my time ridiculing them.”
How many otherkin/faekin/nonhuman followers do I have? I like you guys, generally. Seems like you’re extra nice…..
Oh my. If you think I’m “extra nice”, you got me all wrong. ;)
(eta: not a follower, just saw the post in the otherkin tag.)
It might even be going on the shelves at my campus library. Sure gives me a nice feeling to think of even one book like that in the whole library… I’m going to read through it a bit and then pass it on to someone who expressed interest in getting it into the system (I’ll get it back, of course; they’ll order in a new one).
I work there, too, so if it does make it in, I get to see the level of interest in it based on how many times it gets left out or checked out or… well, hopefully, not stolen… I would hate to see it in that little section all the way in the back devoted to such books. Never to be seen, only requested… such a fate is not what I have in mind for this guide at all.
Wow, I’m surprised your collection development librarian, or whatever such person is called at your institution, thought it was valuable enough with broad enough appeal to accept it. Don’t get me wrong, I like the book, but I have a hard time envisioning it being selected at a public library, never mind a community college library like I work at. Being the cataloger, I could hypothetically sneak in a book like this, but I think it would become a question at next weeding: “Who added this??” It’s just so niche and “weird”.
I am doing research on the Otherkin. I’m hoping this might meet someone’s eyes that is in the community and would feel open to talking to me about their beliefs. I vow that I have an open mind and will not judge at all. Just drop me a message. ^^
Research… of what sort, for what purpose?
